A Girl in Science

Over the years I have taught some very good students, and many of them are girls. In the last couple of years we have been working with the Hong Kong Police to develop a competency (abilities) – based human resource management system. J was one of my students who was doing her final year project as part of the collaboration with the police. She met with police officers to discuss their requirements, integrated the information into a competency hierarchy (tree), and wrote computer programs making use of the information. She also had to make a number presentations to senior police officers, including superintendents and inspectors. She must have been very nervous but never showed it. The officers were quite impressed.

After she graduated, she sent me a thank you card including these words. We teachers like to say that marks are not the most important. However, we are not sure whether the students agree. It is therefore very heartening to hear these words from J. She is now working in the Information Systems department in a large bank and I am sure she will have a very successful career. I would love to tell you who she is but I won’t do it without her permission.

I have other good students and stories to tell, but do not wish to make this too long. So next time, perhaps.